Women of All Ages Unite In Philly to Support Ethical Election Process and Democratic Promises

Sisters In Struggle will gather in Philadelphia, Pa. on December 16th – 17th to share live testimony regarding the urgent need to reject Donald Trump as president elect, and to demand a full recount of the vote. The “mighty cloud of gray haired witnesses” range in age from 50 – 85 years old and will be joined by younger women.

They will demand validation of their presidential election votes, a full count, and that #DonaldTrump not be certified.

In response to voter suppression and other illegal acts of disenfranchisement that handed Donald Trump a victory he did not earn. “We are part of a generation that lost land, jobs, scholarships, and loved ones while fighting for the right to vote in the South. We fought long and hard for voting rights and to up build this democracy. We are not about to let anyone turn us around now.” says Ruby Sales, a human and civil rights ‘marathoner,’ who nearly lost her life to a white supremacist assassin.

“We come before the nation deeply fearing for our safety and standing up to save our lives,” Sales goes on. She notes that there have been 900 hate crimes documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center since the November 8th election. Over 10,000 teachers have reported children being bullied (now called the Trump effect). Our democracy as well as our lives are at stake based on the racist, misogynistic, and Islamophobic policies Trump has promised to put in place.

“Given all our sacrifices and investments in this country throughout the years, we grey haired women have earned the right to serve as the moral authority and conscience of this nation. As witnesses to the tremendous struggles of the past and of the current cesspool our country is in, we are mothers, grandmothers and mentors of future generations. We will not stand without being heard. It is our right and responsibility to question the outcome of the election. It is our right to make sure that as part of authentic democracy voting rights continue to be the breadbasket of our common lives,” says Sales.

America is imploding from the inside out and the outside in. There are reports of voting machines not working and uncounted votes. There are reports of people of color being turned away at polls for highly questionable reasons. Our esteem around the world is fast dissipating because a foreign country successfully determined the outcome of our election by manipulating our votes, hacking voting machines and hacking emails after a blatant invitation from Candidate Trump. How can a man assume office who issued such an invitation to a foreign country? This action is treasonous. How can a man assume office who refuses to release his tax returns when he has business and financial holdings all over the world if not with foreign countries? We demand to see his tax returns now, no excuses.

How can a man who groped women and bragged about it work with women leaders without the taint of his sexual crimes lingering in the air? How can a man who is a prime participant in encouraging a rape culture assume Presidential power over women’s lives? Many of us shrink with horror that Trump refuses daily intelligence and national security briefings. Trump wishes to reduce the office of the Presidency to business

deals around the world. “We declare Trump unfit to be President of the United States. We ask the Electoral College to assume the high moral ground worthy of this democracy and not to seat Donald Trump as our 45th President.”

STORY ANGLES:

● Take advantage of this special opportunity to hear from highly regarded Civil Rights leader Ruby Sales.

● Ask her about the civic pain she discussed with On Being’s Krista Tippet before the election, and how that pain should be understood, now, after the election of a man seen as a threat to American ideals, progress, and Constitutional imperatives.

● Cover this multicultural, if erstwhile silent group of approximately 40 women, who represent the generation and gender of citizens, who more than any others can claim rights as the ‘moral authority,’ of our country.

● Speak with younger women who will be there in support, solidarity and sustained connection with the mission to revisit and reverse the election of Donald Trump.

● Interview any of these intergenerational, non-partisan and multicultural women to hear how their perspectives transcend identity politics–and express the unmistakable common ground mothers and grandmothers share.

● Hear them speak to the lessons of hindsight from their experience in decades past, like the Civil and Voters Rights era as well as the importance of Insight, as they share observations of how the country got to where we are today and, elected the likes of Donald Trump; and foresight, as they explain their fears for the future of their descendents. VIDEO & PHOTOGRAPHY IMAGES:

● Capture mature women (ages 40+) as they sit firm for the recovery of democratic sanity in our country.

● Capture images of the Liberty Bell and Independence Mall, symbolic of the freedom fight so many slaves, women and others endured as U.S. citizens.

● Capture images of multigenerational, all-different colored women working together for the cause of the decade, if not half-century.

● (Related image files available upon request).

Contact: Ruby Sales, (678) 902-5882

#SIS is a SpiritHouse Project network of women from all generations, races, ethnicities, faiths and sexual identities who are activists, lawyers, writers, scholars, preachers, theologians, artists, workers and practitioners. This is an intergenerational protest. Our younger sisters will stand with us. We have chosen Philadelphia because it is the city where a colonized people decided to break the chains of a monarchy and free themselves to become a democracy. It is on this solid ground of promise and opportunity that the fighting 40 will sit-in on our folding chairs as a Mighty Cloud of Gray Haired Witnesses.

Ruby Sales, who worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Lowndes County, Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement is nationally recognized for her life-long social justice work. She is a survivor of an attempted murder by a White Supremacist. Her life was saved by a fellow Freedom Fighter, Jonathan Daniels, who pulled her aside and took the fatal bullet. Ruby Sales is also Founder and Director of SpiritHouse Project.